Colorado
THE DENVER POST
Air Force's mess at Lowry
Article Published: Friday, October 10, 2003
The U.S. Air Force is behaving shamefully regarding the Lowry asbestos
cleanup.
Last spring, construction crews building homes at the former military
base on the Denver-Aurora line found asbestos in the ground. The
cancer-causing debris was left behind when the Air Force demolished old
buildings years ago. The quantity of asbestos was enough that state
health officials grew concerned.
Fortunately, the homebuilders, Lowry Redevelopment Authority and
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment responded quickly
and appropriately. They are cleaning up the Air Force's old mess, so a
potential public health hazard was avoided.
Now that the $15 million cleanup is almost done, the Air Force is
refusing to pay for any retroactive costs. That is, by dragging its feet
and letting the civilian sector do the dirty work, the Air Force plans
to shove its financial responsibilities onto private companies and
possibly the state of Colorado.
In doing so, the Air Force signaled every private business nationwide
that they shouldn't help transform mothballed military sites into
civilian uses - because the Department of Defense will just saddle the
companies with unexpected and potentially back-breaking environmental
clean-up costs. Clearly, Congress must impose rigid environmental and
financial standards on the DOD, since the department won't live up to
its promises on its own.
This article can be viewed at:
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~417~1687951,00.html
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